The plan to reintroduce a big cat that might never have existed

Ideas are afoot to return the clouded leopard to Taiwan, where it was declared extinct in 2013. Yet some say the big cat never lived there

The Sunda clouded leopard is found on Borneo and Sumatra

Sebastian Kennerknecht/Minden Pictures

By Sean Mowbray

“THIS is another animal from the distant wilds of the interior, whose skins the savages bring to the borders to barter with the Chinese.” With these words, published in 1862, Robert Swinhoe introduced the Formosan clouded leopard to the Western world. Europe’s consular representative to Taiwan, he had seen only a few flattened skins on the island, but this was enough for him to distinguish it as a species new to science. Unlike its relatives elsewhere in Asia, wrote Swinhoe, the Formosan clouded leopard had a short tail.

It was declared extinct in 2013, but this is no ordinary story about a large cat being wiped off the planet. There’s a catch. Plans are afoot to bring the svelte feline’s closest relative back to Taiwan – despite lingering questions over whether the clouded leopard ever existed at all.

Today, Asia is home to two species of clouded leopard. Neofelis nebulosa is found across the mainland from the Malay peninsula to the Himalayan foothills of Nepal. The Sunda clouded leopard, Neofelis diardi, is only found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Both are at risk of extinction and rarely glimpsed in the wild even by those who study them.

Their broad paws and flexible ankle joints make them among the best climbers in the cat family – they have been seen hanging upside down from branches and running head first down tree trunks – and they have flowing tails that can be as long as their body, which help them balance in the trees.

There haven’t …

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